Objective: To explore the efficacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in perioperative period of percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Materials and methods: A systematic literature search using Pubmed, Embase, and the Chinese SinoMed, CNKI, WanFang and VIP databases was performed to find comparative studies on the efficacy of different antibiotic prophylaxis strategies in PCNL for preventing postoperative sepsis. The last search was conducted on 21 April 2019. All selected articles were reviewed independently by two, and in case of discordance, three reviewers. Summarized unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) or risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the efficacy of different antibiotic prophylaxis strategies.
Results: Thirteen independent studies comprising up to 1549 individuals were included. Compared with single dose before anesthesia, preoperative prophylactic antibiotics significantly reduced postoperative sepsis (OR 0.31, 95% CI 0.20-0.50; P < 0.00001) and fever (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.14-0.48; P < 0.0001). But no remarkable difference in sepsis risk between patients with and without postoperative prophylactic antibiotics was detected (RR 1.19, 95% CI 0.72-1.97; P = 0.49). And patients receiving postoperative prophylactic antibiotics were at a significantly high risk of fever (OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.01-3.05; P = 0.05). Compared with single dose before anesthesia, preoperative prophylactic antibiotics significantly reduced positive pelvic urine (RR 0.22, 95% CI 0.09-0.54; P = 0.0009) and stone cultures (RR 0.40, 95% CI 0.25-0.64; P = 0.0001).
Conclusions: The conclusion is drawn that preoperative prophylactic antibiotics indeed lowered the risk of postoperative sepsis and fever, whereas its postoperative use seems unnecessary. Besides, preoperative prophylactic antibiotics reduced positive pelvic urine and stone cultures significantly, which are a risk factor for sepsis. In our meta-analysis, the efficacy of different types of antibiotics and different courses of preoperative antibiotics could not be assessed. To verify the correctness of these conclusions, randomized controlled trials with a larger sample size and more rigorous study design are required.
Keywords: Antibiotics; Percutaneous nephrolithotomy; Prophylaxis; Sepsis.